35684 S5006937 (2)

but one having a new and original symbolisra. Although it is expressed here in a quite an uncoraplicated manner which, in any casc, describes all the coins from the Boii mussel senes — using arcs and peilets — it testifies to the advanced specialisation and the level of the minting workshop. Th king into account the absence of analogies for our no. 10 and its stylistic dissimilarity as compared to the other finds from Janków, it is difficult to conclude at present where it had been struck.

In solving this problem some help may be forthcoming from the find of a Celtic coin fforn Modlniczka, distr. Kraków¹ — a Boii stater of a type not listed previously, weighing a mere 4.44 g, struck fforn an alloy which according to the first analysis² has a gold fineness of about 28%.³ Disregarding for a moment the difference in the fineness, we are struck by the similarity of the weight of the stater from Modlniczka and that of the ‘calculation stater’ worked out for our no. 10 from Janków (4.67 g). Although we have here two different denominat ions, some analogies between them are yisible in certain details of their representations. A significant element on the reverse of the stater from Modlniczka are two curved ribs tumed convex side towards the centre of the coin. Between each are and the coin edge are three peilets arranged in a row with at centre — as on the coin from Janków — three peilets set on a rib. Despite some differences, which follow not least from the presence of a crescent on the stater from Modlniczka, stylistic similarities invoked here appear to be quite striking. They can hardly be considered a mere coincidence. It has been suggested tcntatively that the stater from Modlniczka was struck somewhere in western Lesser Poland, although, except for the fact that it occurred in the area of settlement of the Tyniec Group, we have no other evidence to prove that it was.

From the chronological point of view observations relating to the metrological traits of the Celtic coins are important. For K. Castelin weights in particular were the main criteria in classifying the gold issues of the Boii into four minting periods (A-D).⁴ This dassification has been criticised time and again on grounds of the insufficiently large sample used as its source base. Although an inerease in new coin finds has madę it necessaiy to rectify and supplement the system of K. Castelin, the phenomenon of the reduction in weight (and at the same time, fineness of the alloy) of gold coins issued over the morę than two hundred years’ history of Boii coinage remains a fact. The process is visible also in relation to the coinage of the Vindelici.⁵ The oldest in our group are definitely the coins nos. 1 and 2. This is supported not only by their weight (0.855 g and 0.815 g), but also the relatively high gold content which is well over 70%. Taking into account the rangę of variability of these traits, established by K. Castelin for coinage periods C as well as D,⁶ we are faced with a dilemma as to the period within which these coins should fali. Their later datę is apparently supported by the results of research of Axel Hartmann.⁴⁷ With regard to coins from period C this researcher determined that the main raw materiał used in their production did not undergo any basie change as compared to the preceding period, as evidenced by a tracę content of platinum and tin among the elements of the alloy. The presence of bismuth, antimony and lead was connected by him with the inereased silver content, the proportion of which was subject to marked fluctuation and in one of the analysed coins was at 19% (on average, 5-12%). In comparison to the preceding period there would have been a elear inerease in the proportion of copper in the alloy (in one case even 3.5%). On the other hand, coins from coinage period D would be visibly different from older issues by its significant decrease in gold content (its percentages in the analysed coins were 76% and 78%) and a high content of copper (respectively, 6.2% and 4%) and silvcr. We need to notę at the same time that the findings of A. Hartmann are based on the results of analysis of a relatively smali coin series from the chronological periods of interest to us here.

It could be misleading to use no other criterion than that of weight in determining the chronology of the latest smaller denominations from the mussel series (particularly the 1/8 staters) without relying on a longer series of metallographic analysis. The weight of the smali number of 1/8 staters published to datę featuring the motif of a ‘triangle and rays’ (Paulsen nos. 490-557) from the oppidum at Stare Hradisko, disregarding a single subaerate, which may be derived both from the coinage periods B and C, fits wilhin the interval of 0.647 g-0.907 g (three around 0.8 g, two below and two above this figurę).⁴⁸ In tum, in the case of 17 coins which correspond to them in their denomination but have a later variant of the same representation, from a hoard discovered at Trenćianske Bohuslavice, okr. Nove Mesto nad Vahom (Slovakia), linked to period D, the weight is between 0.736 g-0.867 g (with a single specimen at 0.568 g).⁴⁹ Ninę are above and the rest below 0.8 g. A similar regularity may be noted in the fuli staters from the two latest minting periods. Specimens of a weight which fits within the interval of 6.5 g-7 g are not at all rare among the Bohemian finds (a stater find from Podmokły, distr. Rokycany — 6.47 g).⁵⁰ In the same interval belong also all the staters from the finał period of Boii gold minting from the region of Bratislava, their weight as a rule being closer to the lower limit of this interval.⁵¹

Attempts to correlate these two coins from Janków with the mainstream coinage in terms of metrological traits raise a dilemma. In case of specimen no. 1 its weight and fineness fit quite well the rangę of variability of these parameters characteristic for period C, which, however, is contradicted by the stylistic features of its reverse. The other way round with coin no. 2, for which the stylistic model is most likely to be one-eighth stater issues struck in Bohemia and Moravia. Similar reservations do not apply to the rest of the coins from the analysed group, sińce their weight and alloy eomposition do not fit the standard of any of the series of Boii coins. This confirms

47a. Hartmann, ‘Uber Materialanalysen an Goldmunzen der keltischen Bojer’, Jahrbuch des Rómisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 32 (1985), pp. 669-672, tables:

i I

⁴⁸    Cf. also Paulsen, o.c., tables: 24, 25.

⁴⁹    Ko 1 n ik o v ś, ‘Vypoved’ nalezov...’, pp. 12-13. Cf. also Paulsen, o.c., table 29.

50paulsen, o.c., table 19.

⁵¹ Paulsen, o.c., table 29.

1

M. Byrska, M.M. Przybyła, M. Rudnicki, ‘Celtic coins found at site 2 in Modlniczka, dist. Gaców¹, Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 61, 2009, pp. 273-295.

2

   Madę at the Assay Office in Cracow.

3

   The other elements of the alloy are Ag c. 68% and Cu c. 4%.

4

   C a s t e 1 i n, o.c., pp. 34-39.

5

   B. Ziegaus, ‘Datierung boischer Miinzen durch eine Analyse von Schatzfunden’, G. Lehrberger, J. Fridrich et dl. (eds.), Das prahistorische Gold in Bayem, Bóhmen und Mdhren:Herkimft-Technologie-Funde, Pamśtky archeologickć-Supplementum 7/1 (Praha, 1997), p. 213.

6

^Castelin, o.c.,p. 34, tables: IV-VI.